


That Night

by acclaimedwriter



Category: Casualty (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 21:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21482788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acclaimedwriter/pseuds/acclaimedwriter
Summary: Alternative to Duffy waking up in the hotel room with Bill. What if she woke up covered in blood? Based on the prompt: “there’s so much blood.”
Relationships: Lisa "Duffy" Duffin/Charlie Fairhead
Kudos: 3





	That Night

All she could remember clearly was sitting at a table in the pub, running her finger along the rim of the wine glass as she waited for Bill. She’d contacted him because she’d needed someone to talk too and Charlie was unavailable.

She can’t remember things clearly after that. Everything appeared hazy and scattered. Duffy could vaguely remember Bill’s suggestion of a hotel room and her laughing the suggestion off. She remembered her phone, a map, a taxi ride and Bill’s hand somewhere it really shouldn’t have been.

After that, everything was a blank.

When she woke the following morning, Duffy had no recollection of the previous nights events and was horrified to discover she was naked and not alone. There was blood everywhere and Duffy turned her head to the side. Beside her, in the bed was Bill. His skin a funny grey colour and she’d seen plenty of bodies to know he was dead. She got out of bed and dashed to the bathroom where she emptied the contents of her stomach.

Duffy took in the scene of the bathroom and was relieved to find the bathroom was spotless. She crept back into the main room. Every surface was covered in blood and she brought her hands up, exhaling a breathe she hadn’t realised she’d held at the fact her hands were clean. Duffy didn’t know what to do. Something had happened but she couldn’t remember anything to figure out what.

Duffy walked through the blood to locate her mobile phone that was on the bedside table and knew there was only one person she could contact. As the phone began to ring, she closed her eyes tightly.

“Please answer, please answer.”

“Duffy?”

“I…” She took a deep breathe, relieved that Charlie had answered, “I’m in trouble.”

Charlie shot up in bed at her words and glanced at the clock. It was just coming up to seven in the morning and he began to scramble around for yesterday’s clothes.

“Where are you?”

“I… I don’t know.” She replied quietly as she took another look around the room. Duffy had managed to locate her clothes and she was in the process of putting them on. 

“Look for me, please darling.”

There was a pause on the phone. Charlie’s heart was going like the clappers, he felt sick. What did she mean that she was in trouble. Seconds later, just as Charlie grabbed the keys of the side, Duffy returned to the phone.

“The Fairclough”

He nodded and was about to say something when she filled the silence, “Charlie there’s so much blood.”

He swallowed and closed the front door behind him. “Is it coming from you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh huh.”

“Is there someone else in the room with you?”

“Yes.”

“Are they hurt?”

“Yes.” She paused again as she glanced around the room. “He’s dead.”

Charlie almost dropped the phone in shock. Dead? Shit. He unlocked the car and got in.

“Sweetheart?”

“Yes?”

“What room number?” He didn’t have a clue what he was going to do when he arrived but he knew he’d do anything to protect her.

“Oh erm..” she glanced around the room and stepped towards Bill’s jacket looking for something that would reveal her location in the hotel. Charlie heard Duffy’s movement on the phone, the rustling of various items before she came back to the phone.

“104.”

“Room 104?” He repeated back to her for clarification and she repeated the room number.

“Sweetheart, please don’t panic.”

He realised how ironic his words were when he was, indeed panicking. Duffy took another deep breathe, “I’ll try not too.”

He smiled sadly, “I’m on my way. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The call ended and Duffy returned the phone back to the bedside table. While waiting for Charlie, Duffy took a moment to study her surroundings again. She concluded the fact that she was naked along with Bill, some form of sexual activity had taken place. The thought of her having sex with anyone who wasn’t Charlie, made her feel sick and she placed her hand against her mouth.

Other than their clothes been on the floor, nothing else was out of the ordinary. If you were to remove the blood, the hotel room would be how you’d expect it. She grabbed her clothes off the floor and began to get changed, figuring she couldn’t answer the door naked.

Charlie drove as fast as he legally could to the hotel although he was nervous of what he might find when he arrived. He knew Duffy had been acting differently lately. More moody and short tempered, not to forget the incident with the injection and the young boy. He’d just put it all down to stress, dealing with Alicia but now he wasn’t too sure. He reached out to knock on the door but stopped himself before his knuckles came into contact with the door. He knew once he walked into that room, there was no going back and their lives would never be the same again.

Charlie also knew he’d do absolutely anything for her, she was his wife. Taking a deep breath, he knocked once on the door. Hearing the knock on the door, Duffy froze, caught like a rabbit in headlights. She swallowed, reminding herself that it was more than likely Charlie. Edging closer to the door, she placed her palm against it.

“Who is it?” She asked.

“Only me.” Duffy opened the door slightly, a sudden overwhelming urge to cry coming over her. Charlie entered the room, closed the door behind him and wrapped his arms around her. As his arms embraced her, Duffy broke down.

“Ssh,” he whispered, his hand through her hair in an attempt to soothe her. He didn’t remove his arms from around her until he was satisfied that she was settled. Pulling back, Charlie wiped away Duffy’s tears and caressed her cheek.

“Tell me what happened?”

Duffy met his eye. He was such a good man who deserved better.

“Nothing I…” She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, desperate to remember even a tiny part of the jigsaw. All she kept doing was drawing a blank. The only things she could remember were at the beginning of the evening.

“Start from the beginning.” He encouraged gently. She took a deep breath and began to talk.

“We had an argument and I needed someone to talk to and I rang Bill. He’s an old friend. I was in the pub, we had one glass of wine and I don’t remember anything else.”

“Nothing at all?”

Duffy was silent again and Charlie sensed she was holding something back from him.

“You can tell me.” He reassured.

“His hand was somewhere it shouldn’t have been.”

She looked down at her hands and back up at Charlie, her eyes wide in fear. “I killed him, didn’t I?”

“No!” Charlie shook his head. He wasn’t going to allow her to jump to conclusions. Yes Bill was dead but at this present moment, there was no evidence to suggest he’d been murdered.

“Show me?”

Grabbing his hand, Duffy led him further into the room. Duffy was right, there was so much blood. He swallowed, a wave of nausea washing over him. “Darling?”

Duffy squeezed his hand in acknowledgment. He took his car keys out of his pocket and turned to her once again.

“I’m gonna go back to the car. I’ll be two minutes, no later. I promise.”

She nodded and reluctantly let go off his hand. True to his word, he was back within a couple of minutes. He entered the room with a carrier bag and she frowned.

“What’s in the bag?”

He removed a bottle of bleach and some sponges. Without another word, she understood what he was saying and they began to clean up the blood from the room. Every now and again, their eyes met from across the room. Duffy didn’t understand why he was doing this, he was risking everything for her.

Between them, they managed to conceal the blood in the room.

“Do you have everything?”

Charlie asked and Duffy picked up her phone off the side and nodded. She took a glance around the room, took a deep breath and stepped towards Charlie. She was about to ask how she was supposed to leave without anyone noticing she’d been in this room but Charlie’s hand rested against her cheek. He smiled sadly, kissed her cheek and reassured.

“Nobody’s going to know you were even here, only me.”

He met her gaze. Those beautiful green eyes had lost its sparkle these last few months and it saddened him. Charlie picked up the carrier bag, took Duffy’s hand in his and left the hotel room with her.

Duffy felt sick. She knew at some point Bill’s body would be discovered and she was afraid of the possible consequences of her actions. Of Charlie’s actions, it wasn’t just her life on the line anymore. Leaving the hotel via the back way, they went to the car in complete silence.

She got in, put her seatbelt on and watched through the wing mirror as Charlie chucked the carrier bag back into the boot of his car. He got in the car, buckled up and gently rested his hand on Duffy’s thigh. Duffy took his hand in hers and squeezed it tightly.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

Charlie smiled sadly. He’d do absolutely anything to keep her safe. He always would.


End file.
